Insert Title Here
by AquaLux Divine
Summary: There were no words she could use to describe the situation she found herself in. She didn't even know if it was real. And she definitely didn't know how that one little mishap she had that day would change her life forever - but for better or for worse? First Fruits Basket story! R&R, if you don't mind. And yes, that is the story's real title. Currently on HIATUS.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey there. Thanks for taking a look at my story! :)**

**This is also my first Fruits Basket fic, so if you have any positive criticism or helpful advice, feel free to shoot it my way! And without any further ado, I present to you the first Chapter of Insert Title Here.**

* * *

**~ Insert Title Here ~**

**~ A Fruits Basket FanFiction ~**

_"I told you already! Don't you listen to me when I talk? I would never-"_

_The woman never got to say her intended words, cut off by a masculine baritone, one that sounded just as irate as she, "Oh, you've told me already, have you? Well, how the hell am I supposed to know if that's even the truth?! How do I know if anything you say is true? Maybe you've been lying to me for years!"_

_There was a heavy pause. A person would have been able to hear a pin drop in the silence that had ensued._

_Then, the woman spoke, "You know what? I'm going to bed. I can't deal with this - or you - right now." Her declaration was punctuated by the sound of a door slamming shut, as if to block out the sound of the inevitable response the man would spit back._

_"So that's how it is, huh? Just slam the door, and that will solve everything-" small hands clamped down over tired ears, and the loud, angry words became muffled and indiscernible._

_A small, unhappy frown marred Shoko's face and her eyes glistened with unshed tears. She refused to let them fall, afraid that if she gave in her parents would hear her cries and come investigate. Something like that, it would only be the catalyst to another heated argument._

_That was the last thing the six year-old wanted._

_Holding back sniffles, the small brunette child curled up even further beneath her blankets. Sad, forlorn eyes, the colour of liquid honey stared out the window into the night. When she thought it was safe to move her hands, she gently uncovered her ears, listening warily for the telltale noises of a quarrel._

_Her ears met with calm silence, and Shoko used one of her now free arms to wipe furiously at her damp eyes, relief pooling in her stomach._

_Her parents fighting had become something she was used to hearing - it seemed as if they couldn't agree on anything anymore, and was always able to find something to start screaming at each other over. It was horrible to listen to._

_Shoko wasn't sure if her mom and dad knew that she knew that something was wrong. She always did her best to smile and look happy for them every day, so maybe they didn't? Not to mention that whenever she walked into the same room, they would instantly be all rainbows and sunshine, as if they hadn't been at each others' throats not five seconds before - and she would pretend that she had no idea, smile her best smile, and let her mom make her favourite snack and send her to go play in her room._

_She honestly didn't know what else to do at times like those._

_The little girl certainly didn't know what was happening between them, but what she did know was that more than anything, she wanted them to be as they were before all of this._

_That would make her happier than any homemade snack anyday._

_"I just want them to get along again," Shoko whispered into the dark of her bedroom, "I want to see them happy like before."_

_Of course the quietly spoken words were met with stark silence. She hadn't been saying them to anyone, after all. But somewhere deep down, she wished someone could hear her._

_"I wish everything would go back to normal."_

* * *

"Shoko! Hurry up or you'll be late!" The teen flinched at the words, scrambling to pull her uniform on properly, double-checking that her skirt or shirt wasn't on backwards. As funny as it sounded, putting on articles of clothing backwards wasn't exactly out of question for her - especially when she was in a hurry. Some of her most embarrassing moments involved wardrobe mishaps such as those.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" She shouted back to her mother, scowling at her reflection in the bathroom mirror briefly when she saw the shapeless mass that was her hair. "Bloody hair-" growling, she grasped for her brush and yanked it through the tangles, wincing at but otherwise ignoring the pain when the bristles snagged at a particularly stubborn knot.

Finishing with her hair - and losing what felt like half of her brunette locks in the process - Shoko stumbled out of the bathroom, thundered down the stairs and came to a screeching halt at the entrance of the kitchen, where her mother sat calmly at the dining table, sipping at her morning tea.

"Okay, here! Where's breakfast?"

Her mother - named Hideko, but otherwise just known as 'mom' - looked up and gave her an incredulous look from eyes identical to her daughter's. "Does it look like I have anything made and ready to be served?" The older woman sipped her drink, and added, "You don't have time for a big breakfast anyway - you'd better just grab a bagel to go. At this rate, you'll be late no matter what you do."

"Yeah, yeah. I hear you," Shoko mumbled, walking across the room to grab a bagel and a bottle of water, and her boxed lunch from the fridge. Her mother didn't grace her with a reply, going back to her own devices, which she was fine with.

The woman had been somewhat emotionally distant and aloof from her daughter since the divorce - not necessarily cold and uncaring, but not exhibiting great amounts of warmth and affection, either. She was mostly just a bit snippy and irritable nowadays in regards to almost everything.

Shoko had long since learned to live with and accept that fact.

And so, snatching up her schoolbag - thank goodness she had packed it the night before, she really didn't have the time to stuff her things into it now - she was out the front door, bagel and water in hand, about to begin her journey to Kaibara High. She cast one glance over her shoulder at her mother before she went, and decided to call out, "I'm off!"

Hideko merely looked up at her with identical liquid honey eyes, and gave a single nod.

Shoko sighed and shut the door behind her. Biting into the bagel - and making a face at its plain taste - she moved forward towards the day ahead of her.

* * *

The walk to Kaibara was always rather uneventful, and normally Shoko would take her time and enjoy the gentle breeze that swept by her. Of course, this was only true on normal days when the girl wasn't in danger of being late. And as it was, she was going to be late this morning.

And because she was going to be late, the brunette had no time to stop and smell the flowers - no time to stop and do anything, really. And apparently that also meant taking the time to do something that all children learnt to do from a young age - to stop and look both ways before crossing the street. So, being the reckless and unobservant person she was in her haste, the teen darted down the sidewalk, cut across some elderly couple's yard, and made a direct beeline for the road.

She should have slowed down, stopped, looked around, done anything, really. Instead, she bolted across the road at a dead sprint, carelessly, much too focused on the fact that, _'Oh jeez I'm gonna be late and Mr. Omura is gonna make me stay after school to clean the classroom. I hate cleaning the classroom!'_

A sudden car horn blared, loud and insistent. Shoko's head whipped around at the distracting, ear-drum bursting noise, her honey eyes wide and startled. Her run faltered for a split second in her surprise, and a shriek tore from her lips as she recovered and all but threw herself toward the opposite sidewalk with her entire being. Her feet hit the sidewalk and she stumbled, going down on her knees and scraping them in the process. She felt the wind blow past her as the car zoomed by, honking again, but she was too busy marveling and trembling at the fact that she had narrowly avoided a horrible accident.

She swore then and there that she had just lost ten years off of her life.

Remaining on the ground for a few seconds longer trying to slow her racing pulse, the girl politely waved away the people that came up to her inquiring if she was alright or if she needed help. Getting shakily to her feet, she shot a sheepish smile to the people that were eyeing her - they either returned that smile half-heartedly, or shook their head in disbelief. Not that she could blame them, since she did just nearly die because of her own stupidity.

She brushed herself off, pausing to wince at the sight of her slightly bloody knees, and continued on her way, at a much slower pace this time. She had no intention of having another near accident.

She'd probably have a heart-attack, if she didn't get hit and die first, that is.

Eventually, the brunette teen made it to Kaibara High, and in one piece, too. Taking a moment to rejoice in her own alive-ness again, Shoko then set off toward her classroom. The halls of the school were borderline empty, but since she was late, it was only to be expected.

She lingered outside the door for a moment, almost contemplating skipping class. But she knew if she did, she would be in_much _more trouble than for simply being late. Summoning up her nerve, she gripped the door's handle tightly and cracked it open an inch or two.

And proceeded to wince and internally cuss the hell out of the door when it made a very audible rusty squealing noise._'Damn, don't they oil these stupid hinges? This retarded ass door is making this much more difficult than it needs to be!'_

When Shoko opened the door fully, it was to see the entire class staring directly at her. Mr. Omura, her teacher, looked less than pleased. The teen swallowed thickly, trying and failing to force a grin onto her lips.

"U-um," she started, looking at her homeroom teacher with earnest eyes, "Sorry?"

The older man just heaved a sigh, fixing her with his no-nonsense gaze, and told her quite bluntly to, "Go sit down. I'll talk to you after class."

Slinking off to her seat with a nod, Shoko plopped down beside her seatmate - who was also one of her only friends here at high school. Katsura Nami, with her dark hair and sapphire eyes, smirked at her. Shoko shot her a nasty glare, mouthing, 'Don't you dare.'

Nami merely smirked wider and turned away. Shoko scowled.

Class passed by as it usually did, and more than once Shoko felt a prod in her side, only to turn with a glare and find Nami innocently working in her notebook. But the brunette knew better. How was it that her black-haired friend was able to get away with disturbing her frequently without getting caught?

"Crafty woman," Shoko muttered under her breath, and saw said crafty woman grin impishly out of the corner of her eye. _'Oh yeah. Definitely crafty, no doubt about that.'_

Soon enough, it was time to pack up and head to the next class. Only, Shoko remained behind while everyone else left. She watched Nami pass by her and head out the door, but not before mouthing, 'See you at lunch,' at her with another one of her trademark smirks.

The honey-brown eyed girl sighed in exasperation at her friend and shook her head fondly. Nami was certainly something else.

"Miss Murata," her teacher spoke up as the last student trailed out of the room. Shoko looked up at him, preparing herself for a lecture and a invitation to stay after school to clean the classroom. "You were late this morning."

"Yes, sir. I'm sorry for that. I'll do whatever it takes to make up for it." She winced inwardly at her own words as she practically saw the gears turning in Mr. Omura's head.

"Then you don't mind if you come back here after classes and clean up, do you?"

Ah, there it was. She knew it was coming. This man loved to make his students clean up after school hours. It was one of the reasons she didn't like him very much - and she knew for a fact that she wasn't the only one who shared that opinion.

"N-no, I can do that." Not that she wanted to. She just didn't have a choice.

"Good. You are dismissed then," Mr. Omura said briskly, and turned to the papers on his desk. Shoko resisted the urge to scowl and make an unpleasant hand gesture at him, and turned to leave.

"Oh, and Miss Murata?" Her teacher's voice made her pause and turn partially to face him, a blank look on her face, "Don't be late again."

"Yes, sir." The brunette replied in a monotone voice, and turned and left before the man could say anything more.

* * *

Shoko's next class passed in a blur, and before she knew it, it was time for lunch. Gathering her things together and racing up the stairs to the roof, she very nearly mowed down Nami on her way there, who was headed in the same direction.

"Whoa, whoa, where's the train wreck?! Slow down!" Nami scolded her lightly, but she was grinning.

"Sorry, sorry," Shoko apologized, a grin of her own working its way onto her face. "I just wanted to get some fresh air. I haven't had the chance to really unwind since I got here late."

Nami nodded as she pushed open the door to the roof. Not many students ever came up here aside from them, so it wasn't a surprise to see that they were the only ones there.

"Speaking of," the black-haired girl started as she sat down and pulled out her lunch, "Why _were _you late this morning?"

Shoko took her own seat and answered as she fished out her food from her bag, "Woke up late. Damned alarm clock didn't go off." She opened up her lunch and picked up her chopsticks, digging in.

"Sounds like you need a new one," Nami commented, and then smirked devilishly, "But isn't your mom good enough to fill that role? She's always barking at you to get up and not be late."

Shoko snorted. "Yeah, and look what happened. I was still late this morning. I'm not sure that would work."

"Mm, I guess." Her friend said simply, and the two lapsed into a comfortable silence.

Until Nami decided to break it out of the blue and inquire, "So...Shoko, what do you think of the Prince?"

Shoko started at the unexpectedness of the question and forcefully swallowed her bite of food. "The Prince?" She repeated incredulously.

Nami nodded, poking at her own lunch. "Yeah. You know, the one those girls go absolutely batsh-" she noticed Shoko's glare and quickly corrected her foul language, "crazy over? Prince Yuki Sohma?"

Shoko blinked at the name. Yeah, she knew him. She had a class or two with him, actually. But that was all he was to her - a classmate - though she wouldn't deny that he was somewhat attractive. Her teenage hormones forced her to notice that much about him at least.

"Oh, him." Shoko paused, recalling Nami's initial question. What did she think of him? Besides finding him a bit - slightly - good looking? "Well...to be honest, I think he's a bit strange. I mean, he's got all of these girls pining after him but he doesn't seem to care. He doesn't seem to have very many friends, either."

When, exactly, did she take the time to observe this? As far as she could remember, she didn't remember spending any lengthy amount time observing the resident 'Prince' of Kaibara. Had it been during her bored people-watching sessions she'd sometimes engage in when her mind couldn't focus? Or did Yuki Sohma just interest her more than she had originally thought?

Nami didn't seem to be as perturbed by Shoko's answer. She just nodded as if just realizing it was true. "Yeah, that's true I guess. Kinda strange since he's so popular."

Shoko merely nodded, shaking her clinging thoughts away. Why should it matter anyway? It wasn't as if she was friends with him or anything. Heck, as far as she was concerned, she didn't need to know anything about that guy. 'Prince Yuki Sohma' was worlds away from her little designated lot, anyhow.

Their paths would never cross, that much she was certain.

* * *

"Damn it all," Shoko cursed under her breath, broom in hand as she swept the floor. "Damn teachers. Why do I have to do this, anyway?" She let out a low growl, grip tightening on the broom stick convulsively.

"It's not like it's killing you," a voice grumbled from across the room, and the brunette girl looked up to shoot a glare at her fellow student, also tasked with cleaning the room alongside her. Irie Jiro was his name, if she recalled correctly.

"How would you know that?" Shoko grumbled, aggressively sweeping her broom across the floor, with more force than needed, "Maybe I'm allergic to dust and dirt and all of these stupid little particles floating around are slowly killing me. I could be dying right now and you'd have no idea unless I said something."

The boy rolled his eyes and decided not to reply. That suited her just fine. She was used to not getting replies to her smart remarks. She let out a small 'hmpff', noise, and turned her attention back to the job at hand.

_'Useless. Stupid sweeping, stupid brooms, stupid cleaning, stupid teachers, stupid Irie...'_ not that the other student was to be blamed for anything. He just had the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Shoko was actually normally quite amiable on good days. Today just wasn't a good day.

Another ten minutes passed, and they were almost done. Shoko, deciding to be generous - and partly to make up for being such bad company - told Jiro to head out and that she would finish up. The male gave her a surprised look, but didn't argue the point.

So now it was just Shoko in the classroom, finishing up the last touches of her after school task. She was going to make this room so spotless that Mr. Omura would have absolutely nothing bad to say tomorrow.

"And...done!" The brunette looked around the room in a way that was a bit triumphant, and a bit relieved. "I cleaned this damn room, now I can go home. I'm getting hungry."

Stepping out of the newly cleaned classroom, Shoko closed the door behind her and brushed her hands together in an accomplished way. A smirk in place on her face, she then made her way toward her locker, where she would gather her things and head home.

Only thing was...things didn't exactly go according to plan.

On her way out of the school building, she noticed she had forgotten one of her textbooks back in her last class of the day. She needed that one to do her homework, so cursing her forgetfulness, she turned and sprinted back the way she had come, hoping that the door hadn't been locked yet.

She should have taken a memo from this morning really, when she had nearly gotten hit by that car. Running about recklessly without paying attention to your surroundings rarely ended well.

But this was Murata Shoko here, and when she had one thing on her mind, everything else just zipped over her head, unnoticed.

Darting down the hall, the young brunette was just about to round a corner when unexpectedly, a lone figure turned down the very hall she was streaking headlong across. Alarm flashed in her mind for the briefest of seconds, and she was dimly able to recognize a look of shock and growing horror on this other person's face before everything went blank and she made sudden, forceful collision with the poor soul. A strange 'POOF' noise followed, and suddenly her vision was enveloped by a weird purple cloud.

The next thing she knew, she was laying flat on the ground on her stomach, confused and a little irritated. Sitting up slowly as the purple cloud dissipated, Shoko glanced down, expecting to see whoever she had ran into sprawled out on the floor.

...much to her surprise, she was met with the sight of a male Kaibara uniform, but no person.

"...eh?" Was all that she was able to say at that moment. _'What in the world...?'_

Then, she spotted movement among the clothes, and she leaned away from the pile almost warily. Who knew what was happening right now...

A tiny nose poked out from the shirt, followed by a head. Then out came the rest of the body, along with a thin, skinny tail.

A rat.

...okay, maybe the brunette hit her head really hard and was dreaming in LalaLand right now. Yeah, that sounded right for a situation like this.

There was no way this could be really happening. People didn't disappear in a poof of purple clouds and have small rodents take their place. That, that just wasn't possible.

"...alright. You're a person turned into a rat and I'm obviously knocked out cold and dreaming. That's the only plausible answer. Right? Right." Shoko nodded her head to herself as if that made perfect sense. "Damn, what a time to have something like this happen..."

"Ow..."

Shoko froze. Slowly, she glanced around the hall, expecting to see someone who could have voiced that complaint, but was met with nothing but empty space.

It was just her and the rat.

The girl's gaze wandered down to said rat, and she stared at it. It stared right back.

"...that...wasn't you, right? Rats...rats can't talk..." why was she talking as if it could understand her?

"I'd like to agree with you, Miss, but I'm afraid it's too late for that."

...

"...WHAT?!"

* * *

**Well, that's that! And the first chapter of Insert Title Here comes to a close.**

**An interesting fact about the story's name? Actually, I had originally put {Insert Title Here} when I was typing up the first bit of this chapter, as a reminder to go back and give it a name after I was done. But it turned out that I didn't need to, because strangely enough, those three words already kind of fit the idea I had for the story overall. So I just left it.**

**Anywho, I hoped you liked this first chapter. I'm not sure when Chapter 2 will be out, but hopefully it won't be too long. No guarantees, though. XD**

**Alright, so that's all.**

**See you next time!**

**~TheAzuraStar**


	2. Chapter 2

**Ahaha, I forgot to do a disclaimer for chapter one, so here it is now: I do not own Fruits Basket. I do own my own original characters, though. And the plot for this story.**

**Oh, and in case you were wondering, this story takes place during the anime's story line. As of right now, we're not too far in - Tohru has just recently found out about the curse herself and has just moved into Shigure's house.**

**Speaking of the other characters, you'll see them in due time. This story may be a bit slow going and have minimal canon character interaction at first, but it will eventually pick up.**

**Also another thing to note; while I will be mostly following the anime plot line(with a few manga elements thrown in later), this fic will eventually branch away from canon. Seeing as it centers around an OC, it is likely that some things will be changed.**

**Anyway, before I forget, I'd like to mention Les Miserabby, who has beta-read both this chapter and the first one. Just thought I'd get that out there. Thanks again! :D**

**Chapter 2...begin!**

* * *

**~ Insert Title Here ~**

**~ Chapter Two ~**

_"And how was school today, kid?" Shoko's father, Takumi, asked as the family sat down for dinner that night._

_Shoko pushed around a bit of the meat on her plate, only stopping when her mother gave her a scolding look. "It was good, I guess," she mumbled in response, glancing up for a moment to meet her father's green-eyed gaze before fixating her attention back onto her food._

_"You guess?" Takumi echoed, raising an eyebrow, "Shoko, did something happen at school today?"_

_The brunette child started, before shaking her head rapidly. "No," she denied, refusing to meet either of her parents' eyes. Naturally, this worried them, and her mother placed her hand on her daughter's shoulder firmly._

_"Shoko, what's wrong?" The woman demanded, looking at her sternly._

_"Nothing." Shoko muttered, wanting to brush away her mother's hand but knowing she would be lectured about rudeness if she did. It wasn't worth it._

_"You're lying. What did I say to you about telling lies?" Hideko refused to let the subject drop. Her honey-brown eyes, so similar to Shoko's, bore into her daughter._

_"Hideko, maybe she doesn't want to talk about it right now. Leave her be." Takumi said, eyeing his wife._

_Shoko heard her mother scoff, and her stomach dropped as the older woman shot back a retort, "It's our responsibility to make sure our child is excelling at school. If there's something wrong, we can't just 'leave it be'."_

_"Shoko will tell us in her own time if there's something bothering her," her father insisted, his tone irritated, "Right, kiddo?" He addressed his daughter directly, turning his bright green hues onto her._

_"Yeah," Shoko mumbled, nibbling at her food. Her appetite was waning quickly._

_"See? Everything is fine," Takumi stated, as if that would put an end to the conversation._

_But Hideko would have none of that. She glared at the man and said sharply, "Come now, Takumi, do you really think it works like that? Children Shoko's age aren't brave enough to openly-"_

_"Would you two just stop it?" The entire room fell silent at Shoko's sudden outburst. The young girl wasn't looking at either of them, but she was quite clearly glaring daggers at her plate. The grip on her eating utensils was tight, turning her knuckles white._

_Without waiting for a response, the brunette started up again, "All you two do is argue about everything. Why can't you just get along for even one family meal? Why do you always have to do this?" Her eyes stung, but she resisted the urge to cry. Bursting into tears now wouldn't help matters, it would just divert everyone's attention from the main problem._

_"Shoko..." her mother and father spoke at the same time, her father's tone worried, but her mother's tone came out sounding like a warning._

_"I'm tired of it," she muttered, "I don't want to listen to you fight anymore." Shoko still refused to look up and meet anyone's eyes. She felt like she would completely lose it if she did._

_"I'm going to my room." She abruptly announced, standing up from her chair and leaving the table. "I have homework."_

_Her parents watched her go with different expressions; Takumi looked affronted, like he didn't expect his daughter to be aware of the growing rift between him and Hideko; and Hideko herself just looked moody and a bit surprised._

_As far as Shoko was concerned, she was done with this. She didn't expect things to miraculously fix themselves, or for her parents to suddenly decide they loved each other again._

_Those were foolish dreams; fleeting wishes that she had once entertained herself with._

_She knew better now._

_Whatever was wrong with her mother and father...it couldn't be fixed._

* * *

"WHAT?!" The exclamation burst from her lips a second time, and Shoko herself was soon back up on her feet and about five steps away from the talking rat in record time.

What the hell was this?!

"This is rather unfortunate," the rat spoke in a soft, almost unhappy voice while the girl nearby nearly hyperventilated out of shock, "And here I thought the building was empty."

Shoko placed a hand to her chest. Her heart was hammering at a rapid pace, and her eyes were blown wide open in disbelief. Her mind was racing a million miles per second, trying to figure out just what this was supposed to be.

"Wha...what is going on?! Why is there a talking rat?! Am I knocked out or am I going insane? This can't happening, this, this can't even be real!" The brunette clutched at her head and stared at the small rodent with comically wide eyes. Her brain and thought process was beyond frazzled right now. She wasn't prepared to deal with something like this, whatever this even was.

She tried to take in deep breaths to steady herself and regain some sort of calmness.

"Okay, okay, calm down Shoko," she mumbled to herself almost hysterically, missing the way the rat sweatdropped at her and tried to get her attention with its soft voice, "there has to be a rational explanation. You can't have gone off the deep end, last time you checked you were perfectly sane. You're probably just unconscious, and this is all a strange dream. Yeah...yeah, that makes sense." She began to mumble incoherent sentences of reassurance to herself, even nodding to punctuate each word.

Meanwhile the rat, sitting alone and forgotten among the crumpled Kaibara uniform, sighed. He was more exasperated than bothered at this point, mostly at the girl who was trying to pretend he wasn't sitting here not two feet away.

"Miss..." he said, moving a step toward said girl. She didn't reply. "Miss...Shoko?" That was what she had called herself, right?

He was about to call out to her again, but the poor rat was interrupted by a rather unexpected 'POOF' of purple cloud, and nearly groaned aloud at the horrible timing.

Shoko's ramblings fell silent and her eyes resumed their wide-open status. Her mind blanked and she felt her jaw drop, a thin squeaking/wheezing noise escaping her throat.

_'I don't even know what's going on anymore.'_ She thought and suddenly stiffened. She spun around quickly, red dusting her face and ear-tips. _'First there was a boy, then there was a rat, and now there's a boy again - a goddamn naked boy!'_

"What the hell is this?" She whispered hoarsely to herself, shaken. "I don't even..."

A few moments passed in that fashion, with Shoko standing rigid with her back facing the boy behind her. After a few moments of utter silence, she figured that maybe he had left, and she allowed her shoulders to relax slightly. But she hesitated when the thought of turning around came to mind.

And for good reason, too. The poor girl screeched in surprise and jumped three feet into the air when she felt a light tap on her shoulder and heard a soft voice say, "Excuse me, Miss...?"

Recovering slightly, Shoko whipped around and found herself face to face with the very topic of her conversation with Nami over lunch earlier that day.

Prince Yuki Sohma.

For a moment, all she could do was stare. She'd never been this up close to this boy before, but now that she was, all she could notice was how _soft _and almost _feminine _his facial features were. In short, if she were to label this boy as anything, she would have to say that he looked - dare she even _think_ the word - beautiful.

And then she mentally slapped herself for allowing herself to get distracted by his pretty looks. Now wasn't the time to be ogling him, this person who had been a boy, and then a rat, and then a boy again!

Oh, how ridiculous that sounded...it couldn't possibly have been real, right?

Flushing a mild shade of red again, the brunette teen risked a quick glance downwards from his face, just double checking that he was actually wearing clothes now, and she held in a sigh of relief when she saw that he was. Thank goodness.

When she saw that he was about to open his mouth and say something, she felt a strange surge of panic and cut him off before he could even begin. "No, no! Wait just a second and don't say anything!"

He furrowed his brows faintly at her in response, and merely listened in silence as she swept on, "Don't say a word about what just happened, alright? It wasn't real. I imagined the whole thing, so if you don't mind, I would rather you didn't shatter that thin line between reality and insanity and just let me pretend like it was all some sort of crazy hallucination spawned from knocking my head too hard against the floor. Okay?"

Shoko gave him a half-glare as she fell silent. She was really hoping he would decide to be cooperative and just keep his mouth shut on the matter, but she had a feeling...it wasn't going to be that easy.

Yuki sighed again. This wasn't going quite how he had been expecting it to, considering that the girl in front of him seemed fixated on maintaining a mindset that was clearly in denial about everything. And she was even _aware _of that fact.

"I'm sorry Miss...Shoko, but I don't think that the situation is that simple..." he trailed off, noticing how the shorter brunette didn't seem to be paying any attention to what he was saying. "Miss Shoko."

Shoko heard what he had said, but she refused to acknowledge it. Why couldn't he understand that this all would be made so much easier if he just let it drop? "Look," she said firmly, locking her eyes onto his as she channeled her mother's irritable stern persona, "I'm willing to act like this never happened, so if you just play along, it'll be fine."

She valued her peace of mind, thank you very much. There was no room for something like this in her world. She'd drive herself up a wall trying to figure out the meaning behind everything if she allowed it to really sink into her brain. She would rather just remain as ignorant as possible. Or at least give that illusion of ignorance.

Yuki didn't seem to share the same opinion as her though, and he seemed persistent in pushing the matter. "You need to listen to me," was his tone getting...irritated, or was that just her? "This a very serious matter, Miss Shoko. You might tell someone else, and-"

"Who the hell would I tell? No, scratch that, who would even _believe _something like this? Even I'm having a hard time digesting it." The honey-brown eyed girl said, sounding incredulous.

"You would be surprised at who might believe you." Well, didn't those words sound ominous.

Shoko shook her head stubbornly. "No. I don't want to talk about this anymore. I have to get home." She took a step away from the boy, who watched her movements with a strange look in his eye.

"Please, Miss Shoko-" he started, almost pleading, but she would have none of it.

"I said no!" And then she was bolting down the hall, away from the strange boy and his strange girly looks.

They both knew he could probably catch up to her if he tried, but for some reason he stayed rooted to the spot. He watched her flee, until she rounded a corner and was out of view.

He sighed.

What was he supposed to do now?

* * *

"Damn, damn, damn it all!" Shoko cursed at herself furiously, crouching down with her back leaning against the side of a brick building, panting from the exertion and trying to catch her breath. She had fled from Yuki Sohma and hadn't stopped running until she was out of the school and more than halfway home.

And she didn't even have the textbook she needed and had forgotten about.

"Way to go, Shoko," she muttered at herself angrily, "now you're going to be in big trouble tomorrow, _again. _Damn it!"

Once her breathing had evened out some, she stood up shakily and observed her surroundings. She had chosen to stop and rest against a small convenience store, partway into the alley, she noted. Drawing in a deep breath, she emerged back out onto the sidewalk, acting like she hadn't been bolting along at breakneck speed up until this point.

When her house came into view - just a modest, two-story building - she exhaled a burdened sigh. Now she could go to her room and bury herself in her sheets; and hopefully forget about what had happened today.

Yeah right.

Upon walking into the house and announcing, "I'm home!" out loud, she was met with silence. Her mother must still be at work, then.

Dumping her bag by the stairs to deal with later, Shoko went up to her room and immediately went for her bed upon entering. Her head hit the soft pillows and she sighed in contentment, closing her eyes for a moment.

Peaceful quiet was all she was aware of for the time being, and a small smile stretched out across her lips as she allowed herself to relax.

Ah, sweet, sweet, peace and quiet...

Unfortunately, it wasn't fated to last, because at that moment, her mind chose to travel back in time to the bizarre situation she had found herself in back in Kaibara's hallways.

Her smile contorted into a displeased frown, and her eyes snapped open. "No," she scolded herself while sitting up, "I won't think about that. I won't."

But her memory refused to listen to her. It didn't matter what she did; images of a boy, a 'POOF' noise and purple clouds, followed by a talking rat kept plaguing her thoughts. She couldn't shake it off.

"Ugh!" Shoko flopped back down onto her bed and threw her pillow over her face. "Why did Yuki Sohma of all people have to be in that exact hall at that exact time?! By mere coincidence? Yeah right...fate is aspiring against me today, I swear!" She suddenly recalled the conversation she had with Nami during lunch. "Or maybe this is karma being a bitch for talking about him behind his back!"

Growling, the girl suddenly ripped the pillow away from her face and stood up from her bed. She stomped her way out of her room and down the stairs, to where her schoolbag had been left unceremoniously. She picked it up, made her way toward the dining table where she plopped herself down and dug out her homework - or whatever she _could _dig out, anyway. That stupid textbook sitting back in her classroom was probably mocking her right now.

Anyway, if her mind couldn't think about anything else other than what had transpired with the Prince of her high school, then she'd drown out all of those annoying thoughts with some good old hard, cold math equations.

Anything to keep her mind off of _that._

* * *

School the next day was, simply put, boring, but at the same time, eventful.

Everywhere she went, she was careful that Yuki Sohma was not there either. When it came time to going to the classes she shared with the boy, she avoided all eye contact like she would die if she so much as met his purple-eyed gaze.

And Shoko could feel - or she thought she could, at least - his eyes on her during those times. Maybe it was her imagination overreacting, but she wasn't going to take the risk of finding out.

Her own cowardice unnerved her almost as much as the boy she was trying to avoid. She wasn't normally like this; if there was a problem, she usually confronted head on, not flee from it. But in a way, it did make some sense. Since the issue itself wasn't a normal one, she supposed the fact that she was acting this way wasn't completely out of character.

After all, was there anyone that w_ould _act normally after seeing what she had?

Shoko was surprised, to say the least, when she made it to lunch without being confronted. She and Nami ate at their usual spot on the roof, the sound of idle chatter and the dark haired girl cracking jokes that the other girl would smile and chuckle half-heartedly at surrounding them.

At one point Nami bluntly asked her, "What's eating you?" when Shoko merely gave a forced grin in response to a pun she had made.

"W-what? Nothing. I just didn't do my history homework last night and I'm not looking forward to that class..." Shoko knew her reply was less than believable, but Nami just frowned a bit in reply before grinning again and going back to her animated speech.

Shoko sighed and picked at her lunch, casting a wary look around the rooftop.

* * *

By the end of the school day, her nerves and paranoia were all but eating her alive. She'd made it through all of her classes - though her history teacher had assigned her extra homework for not doing yesterday's - with no sign of the Prince.

It was just as she was leaving the building that she realized her luck had run out - because the very person she had been dodging all day was standing at the school's front doors. He wasn't paying much attention to the swarm of students brushing past him to leave, and the only reason Shoko had been able to spot him was because he was the only person not moving among everyone who was.

The brunette teen gulped at the sight of him and felt a surge of annoyance mixed with fear. Why was he standing there like that? He couldn't possibly be waiting for her, right?

It didn't take long for her to realize - with a rush of relief - that she was wrong. Shoko watched as Yuki was approached by a girl with long brown hair and pretty blue eyes. The two exchanged a few words with each other, and then they both turned to leave.

But not before the boy's eyes suddenly locked with her own for just a second, and she stiffened. Those eyes blinked at her, and much to the honey-brown eyed girl's surprise, he shot her a single, polite smile before turning his back to her and leaving side by side with the girl from before.

Shoko blinked, shocked and confused by what had just happened. She had thought he would want to talk with her. She had thought he would have at least something to say to her, but all he did was smile? Why?

She grumbled something under her breath and narrowed her eyes. "It was probably because he was waiting for that girl," she frowned, "or maybe he decided it wasn't worth it and is leaving me alone."

She hoped it was because of the second reason. She really, really hoped it was the second reason. She wasn't all that fond of the idea of a person being able to turn into a rat, and even less fond of the notion that she may now be involved in something less than normal. As if she needed one extra thing like this to worry about.

At least for now she was safe. Safe from what, she couldn't say, but Shoko had a feeling she couldn't keep dodging bullets like she'd been doing all day.

Scary as it sounded, she knew she was going to get hit sooner or later.

She only hoped that it wouldn't hurt too much when she did.

* * *

Curiosity had been nagging at the girl and when she finally couldn't take it anymore, Tohru asked, "So who was that girl you were smiling at, Yuki?" The girl in question had looked familiar...maybe a classmate?

The boy confirmed her thoughts when he replied, "Just a classmate I had the pleasure of talking to yesterday."

Tohru blinked at that and smiled. "Is she nice?"

Yuki paused at her question and thought back to yesterday, and what she had told him. _"Look, I'm willing to act like this never happened, so if you just play along, it'll be fine."_

She had seemed so desperate to have him not say anything about what she had obviously witnessed. It was...quite odd.

To answer Tohru's question, Yuki replied without thinking, "Yes, I'm sure she is..."

But that wasn't the honest truth, was it?

The truth was, Yuki didn't know what to say about that girl.

He didn't even know what to think of her.

She had thrown him for a loop with her reaction to his curse. He knew he should probably tell Shigure about what had happened yesterday, but he couldn't bring himself to. Maybe it was because of that look he had noticed in her eyes had shocked him so much? Or maybe it was something completely different.

Images of his past flashed through is mind, of a younger him and his friends whose memories had to be erased because of the curse.

No, Yuki didn't know a thing when it came to that girl.

What he did know, however, was that he didn't want her to lose her memory because of a simple accident, like those children so long ago.

He didn't want that to happen to anyone ever again.

* * *

**And that's a wrap!**

**...man, I'm so not used to writing chapters this long. Usually my writing comes in shorter bursts, maybe 1,000 words per update, but this story...no, I can't seem to do that. It's not a bad thing, I suppose. It's just different.**

**Well anyway!**

**Thank you to the following people who have reviewed/faved/followed:**

**\- Les Miserabby**

**\- Queen Ore-sama**

**So that's all for now, everyone. Feel free to drop me a review telling me what you thought.**

**See you all next time!**

**~TheAzuraStar**


	3. Chapter 3

**I do not own Fruits Basket; just my OCs and the plot of this story.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**~ Insert Title Here ~**

**~ Chapter Three ~**

_The air was tense and awkward as Shoko sat at the dining room table, fidgeting with her fingers idly. Her parents sat across from her, both wearing serious looks on their faces. As she watched them anxiously, she couldn't help but notice how they had distanced their chairs away from each other. Like they didn't want to be near one another, but ultimately decided that they both needed to be present for this occasion._

_"Shoko," her mother began, looking directly into her daughter's eyes, "your father and I have been thinking things over...and we've come to the decision that it is best that we make some changes."_

_The brunette girl blinked, glancing from her mother to her father. "What sort of changes?" The ten year-old asked softly._

_Here, her father decided to take over the explanation, speaking gently, but bluntly, "Shoko, we're getting a divorce."_

_The moment the words hit Shoko's ears, the girl frowned. "Oh."_

_The news didn't come as a huge shock to her, she found, but the reality of the situation stung a bit. Sure, maybe she'd been expecting something like this for a while now, but now that it was really happening, Shoko felt a bit betrayed._

_"We think that it's for the best," Hideko added._

'Of course you do,' _Shoko thought dejectedly, her brow furrowing._

_There were words on the tip of her tongue, but she held them back. She wanted to ask, 'Why? Why aren't the two of you enough for each other? Why do you want to tear apart our family? Why didn't you just try harder to fix things?' There were so many answers that she wanted, but she didn't have the will to ask for them. She had a feeling that the adults would just gloss over the truth anyway, to try and protect her from the 'adult problems'._

_"Is there anything you want to say?" Her father's voice was still quiet and gentle. Shoko couldn't help but feel the slightest bit annoyed by it, irrationality aside._

_But she pondered over his words, thought about her own wishes and hopes, and finally came to a single definite answer; maybe it was best if she just let it happen. Maybe she was better off not knowing why._

_She spoke in a firm and deciding tone._

_"No."_

* * *

Three days is a long time to live in perpetual fear of being confronted. Three days is way too long to be worrying over something like this. Three days more, and she was going to go absolutely _insane._

But really? _Three days?_

Why hadn't he done something yet? What was he waiting for? Was he doing this to her on purpose? Wearing her down mentally and physically?

Shoko didn't understand. She didn't understand _at all._ It had been...yes, three days, since she had witnessed the shocking sight of Yuki Sohma turning into a rat upon being plowed into by a hasty Shoko Murata.

And he had done nothing since.

_Absolutely nothing_.

Wasn't he worried that she would tell someone? Do something? Anything?

He was acting like it had never happened.

And yes, she herself had been the one to tell him to do as such, but she hadn't been expecting him to actually_ do it, _let alone start ignoring her. It was maddening, in the worst way possible.

On top of that, against her better judgement, Shoko had begun thinking deeper into what had transpired that day. Beyond the point of denial now, and moving into perturbed acceptance, she found herself wanting answers.

Answers she was damn sure would make her question the sanity of the world around her.

The only way she was going to get those answers was to confront the person who refused to confront her. And just how in the world was she going to do that, exactly? Walk up to the boy and demand he tell her why he turned into a rat?

That seemed rather simple, but how does someone even ask something that ridiculous without seeming like a whack-job? You can't, that's how.

Yes, she was in a really strange position indeed.

Why the hell did fate decide that she was a prime target for this insanity? Where had she gone wrong in life?

It was times like these where Shoko contemplated the effectiveness of repeatedly smashing her head against her desk.

At least the pain would distract her.

* * *

"Oi, why're you zoning out so much?"

Nami's voice, loud and insistent in the brunette's ear, had Shoko jumping in surprise. "Hah?"

"Don't 'hah' me, you haven't been listening to a single thing I've said! Idiot, what's got you so wound up?" Nami was giving her a narrow-eyed look, her arms crossed over her chest and her foot tapping lightly against the floor.

Shoko felt a mild surge of guilt, realizing that during her inner musings, she had missed what her friend had been talking about.

"Sorry, I was just thinking. What were you saying again?"

Nami rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Never mind that, I want to know about this thing that has you acting like a space cadet. It must be pretty serious."

Shoko blinked, raising a hand to scratch at the back of her head. "It's really not that important," she muttered, glancing down at her school shoes.

"Bull," Nami retorted bluntly, causing the brunette teen across from her to flinch slightly. "If it has you zoning out that often and for that long, then it's obviously not something trivial. What is it?"

"Geez, you're so demanding," Shoko mumbled out, "why do you want to know so much, anyway?"

"Because my best friend been acting not like herself for the past three days, and I want to know why. Is there a problem? Family issues? Financial difficulties? What is going on with you, Shoko?" Nami's tone left no room to argue. The girl was rather intimidating when she put her foot down, and while Shoko normally was able to resist that intimidation, even be the one to douse it at times, she knew there was no way around it this time.

She had to tell her friend the truth. Or, some of it, perhaps. Just enough to get the blue-eyed girl off of her back.

"It's...Yuki Sohma." Oh, how difficult it was to get those words out there.

Nami's reaction was just how Shoko expected.

The dark-haired girl gave her friend a look of utter confusion, her brow furrowing. Then she looked thoughtful, her mind processing the name and finally, her lips began to curve up in her trademark smirk. Shoko could practically see the conclusion Nami's mind had conjured up.

"Wait...wait, Yuki Sohma? The prince? Him?" A laugh bubbled up from her throat. "_He's _the one that has you so distant-looking?"

"It's not what you think," Shoko muttered, her voice defensive.

"_Suuure _it isn't," Nami crowed gleefully, "my, my, I never knew you had a thing for royalty, Shoko! This is hysterical!"

"How is it funny?" Shoko growled, hackles rising. "And I told you, that's not how it is! I'm not...attracted to Yuki Sohma! I'm not!" But the world was transpiring against her, it seemed, because she felt her face begin to heat up, a testament to her embarrassment at Nami's teasing. She was not blushing because she found that rat-boy attractive!

Nami, being the girl that she is, obviously didn't believe the words coming from Shoko's mouth.

"Denial~!" The dark-haired teen sang, smirking all the while. "You're blushing, Shoko! Haha, you really do like him, don't you?"

"No! And I'm only blushing because I'm frustrated at your idiocy! Damn it, I don't like anyone!"

Nami wasn't listening at this point. She was convinced that her friend had a thing for the prince of Kaibara, and Shoko knew she wasn't ever going to live this down. Whether it was true or not.

Somewhere, though, Shoko was glad that she didn't have that demanding Nami on her case anymore. Because that meant she wouldn't have to tell her friend that Yuki Sohma apparently had the ability of turning into a small rodent.

Frowning at Nami's antics, the brunette released a soft sigh of relief.

She was safe for now.

And only at the expense of her dignity, too.

* * *

For the rest of the day, every time Shoko saw Nami in class or in the hall, the girl would smirk at her. It wasn't long before the honey-eyed teen felt the intense desire to start wringing her neck whenever they met.

"Damn her," Shoko growled in irritation as she settled into her desk. It was the last class of the day, and thankfully, she didn't have this one with Nami. The dark-haired girl surely wouldn't survive until the end of the day if she had, Shoko thought darkly.

It was during the brunette's morbid thoughts of how she would murder her best friend that someone decided to walk up to the unoccupied seat next to her.

"Hello," a feminine voice spoke up in a cheery, friendly tone.

Shoko turned at the newcomer's greeting, and her eyes locked onto a slightly familiar visage - she had seen this face before somewhere...

Ah. Shoko suddenly remembered. This was the girl that Yuki Sohma had been waiting for a few days ago by the front doors. She recognized those bright blue eyes, just a few shades lighter than Nami's. The comparison made her want to scowl, irritation toward her friend flickering.

That's when she realized that she had to answer this stranger's 'hello', and she inclined her head slightly toward the other student, replying, "Hi."

The girl beside her beamed, and Shoko blinked in response. This girl, whoever she was, was awfully happy for some reason.

"I'm Tohru Honda," the girl introduced herself, all the while smiling politely, "would it be alright if I sat here?"

Shoko toyed with the idea of telling this Tohru Honda that the seat was already taken, so she could stew in her own annoyance alone, but ultimately decided that something like that would be too mean to do to someone she hardly knew, especially when said someone looked so sincere and polite.

So she merely nodded, and mumbled, "Uh, sure. I don't mind."

"Thank you!" And with that, Tohru Honda placed herself down upon the chair next to Shoko's, smile still in place. After a moment of semi-awkward silence - well, it was awkward to Shoko - the blue-eyed girl next to her suddenly asked, "What's your name?"

Shoko briefly wondered what this girl wanted. Why was she sitting next to her? Was she friends with Yuki Sohma, and if so, was that why she was here? Did that prince say anything to her about Shoko?

"Sh-Shoko Murata," she replied hastily, glancing away from Tohru. She inwardly cursed the stutter, trying to push away the feeling of growing unease. There was no reason to be wary of this friendly girl, right?

Tohru smiled - did this girl ever not smile? - and said, "It's nice to meet you! I hope we can get along."

Shoko merely blinked in response and nodded. As far as she was concerned, there was no reason for them _not_ to get along, unless the girl brought up Yuki. Then there may be some minor complications.

When the class teacher began the lecture, all traces of conversation died out. That was fine with Shoko - more than fine, actually. It meant she could mull over her thoughts undisturbed. And she did indeed mull over her thoughts.

She wasn't sure why Tohru had wanted to sit next to her and introduce herself, but she had the distinct feeling that Yuki was somehow related. Whether or not that was a good thing, Shoko wasn't sure of, but for the moment, she was going to treat it normally. No need to get worked up over something that may be nothing.

Still, she was still somewhat curious on the matter. It wasn't everyday that someone she hardly knew came up and asked if they could have the seat next to her. Now that she thought about it, the action was strange, but not exactly unwelcome.

Shoko decided then that she didn't mind Tohru Honda. The girl was friendly enough, and didn't seem to have any ill intentions or underlying motives. If anything, the other brunette struck her as being a tad bit ditzy. And polite. Nothing bad there.

The honey-eyed girl scribbled something down in the notebook in front of her, casting a sidelong glance at the person next to her.

Tohru was focused on what the teacher was saying. She didn't seem to notice Shoko's discreet observation.

Yeah, this girl was hardly anything to watch out for.

Shoko turned her attention back to the front of the classroom.

* * *

By the end of the day, Shoko felt quite tired. She was about ready to go home and take a nice long nap.

As she was heading out of the building, she heard running footsteps from behind, and Nami suddenly popped up beside her. On the dark-haired girl's face was that familiar smirk, and Shoko felt her skin crawl as she anticipated the words about to leave her friend's lips.

"Yo! Did you see the prince at all this afternoon?"

There it was. Shoko knew that Nami wouldn't let this lie. Even if it wasn't true, she'd be hearing teasing remarks about how she _like-liked_ the prince of Kaibara High for weeks.

She was already dreading it - she should have just kept her mouth shut, Nami's intimidating glower be damned.

"No," Shoko replied shortly, trying to send the message that she didn't want to hear anymore with her tone.

Nami of course ignored the warning. "Aw, how disappointing! I bet you were sad all afternoon! Don't worry though, there's always tomorrow to ogle at our dear prince!"

Shoko wanted to punch Nami. Hard.

Instead she just snorted derisively and said, "I'd sooner shove my head in a bucket of ice water."

Nami smirked wickedly - but wait, when was that smirk _not_ wicked? - and opened her mouth to make some sort of comment, but it was at this point that a voice that Shoko had recently become acquainted with called out her name.

She turned to watch as Tohru Honda approached her and Nami, blinking in mild confusion. What did she want now?

"Shoko!" Tohru stopped a few feet away from them and bowed, before rising back up and fixing the two girls before her with a smile - was it weird that Shoko was already getting used to seeing that facial expression on this girl?

"I was wondering if you'd want to have lunch with me and a few friends tomorrow?" The girl looked hopeful, and her gaze flashed briefly at Nami before she added, "Your friend can join us too!"

Shoko blinked in surprise. An invitation for lunch? Well, this was unexpected.

"Er..." Shoko fidgeted, unsure of how to reply. Nami seemed a bit confused as well, glancing from her to Tohru a few times.

At Shoko's silence, Tohru seemed to become almost frantic. "Oh, do you already have plans? I'm sorry! I didn't mean to impose, I just thought- you don't have to if you don't want to either, please don't feel obligated just because I offered, I didn't know that you might already be doing something-!"

"No!" Shoko's outburst had Tohru falling silent and Nami glancing at her in surprise. "No, I mean...I'm not busy at lunch tomorrow. I-I would love to join you and your friends - Nami, how does that sound? We can have lunch with Tohru and her friends, right? You don't mind?"

Nami looked at Shoko. For once, the dark-haired girl had a look on her face that she couldn't identify. Finally, she replied in a voice that was uncharacteristically quiet, "Yeah, it's fine with me."

After both girls agreed, Tohru recovered from her apologetic rant, and beamed brightly at the two of them. "Great! We have the same before lunch class, right? We can just eat in the classroom!"

Shoko offered a small grin, and nodded. Tohru seemed elated at the response, clapping her hands together enthusiastically before suddenly blinking as if something just occurred to her.

Shoko watched as Tohru turned to face Nami, looking apologetic again, and said, "Oh, how silly of me, I forgot to introduce myself! I'm Tohru Honda!" The girl bowed.

Nami blinked, blank faced. "Nami Katsura."

"Nice to meet you, Nami!" Tohru smiled happily.

"Yeah..." Nami replied, and Shoko felt a flash of concern toward her friend - Nami wasn't normally this tight-lipped. Was something wrong with her?

Tohru suddenly gave a slight jump, and looked around frantically. For a moment Shoko thought that she had lost something, but then the girl looked toward them and bowed again. "I'm sorry, but I have to go! I'll be late for my job!"

Shoko and Nami watched as the girl turned on her heel and made a beeline toward the road. She called back over her shoulder, "Sorry! I'll see you tomorrow at lunch!"

And then she was zipping away - Shoko noticed that she looked both ways before crossing the street, something that she herself needed to do more often.

When she was out of sight, Nami decided to speak up. "Who was that?" Her voice was void of all mischievousness, it lacked its usual humour, and Shoko found herself wondering why.

"Her name's Tohru," Shoko replied, bewildered, "she told you her name, remember?"

Nami looked at her, and shook her dark-haired head. "No, I mean...how do you know her? I thought you didn't like to socialize with others here much."

Shoko blinked at her friend's words, and then a sheepish look crossed her face. "I didn't approach her, if that's what you think," she muttered, "she kind of introduced herself and then took the seat next to me in class. I'm not exactly sure why."

"Huh," was Nami's reply.

Shoko looked at her friend, wondering why she seemed so distant all of a sudden. Where was that boisterous girl that she knew?

"Is something wrong, Nami? You're acting a bit different..."

Those words from Shoko was all it took for the dark-haired girl to suddenly put on a grin. Nami put her hands on her hips and said, "Hah, nothing's wrong! Everything is just peachy, peachy I say!" Her blue eyes cut to Shoko, and that smirk was back. "The one we really should be worrying about is you." She placed her hands on Shoko's shoulders and leaned in close, face contorted in mock concern - but her eyes glittered mischievously. "After all, this poor girl hasn't seen her dear prince in hours! Oh, the turmoil! You must be so anxious to see him, you poor thing!"

Shoko immediately recoiled away from Nami, face becoming irritated once more. "Bugger off," she snapped, "And stop spouting that crap!"

Nami crowed with laughter, and as she did, Shoko stared at her with a mixture of severe annoyance and lingering concern.

Nami seemed to be back to normal now, but Shoko wasn't entirely convinced. The transformation from reserved to outgoing had come too quickly - almost like it had been forced.

Was there something actually wrong with Nami?

This train of thought derailed epic-ally when she felt Nami wrap an arm around her shoulders and whisper in her ear, "Shoko _loooves _prince Yuki Soh-"

"SHUT IT, KATSURA!"

* * *

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**~TheAzuraStar**


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